RWBY: Curse of the Red Hood
by Redbird2099
Summary: After her sister's death Yang Xiao-long became the vigilante Thorn, swearing to uphold justice and refusing to take another's life in order to honour her sister's memory. Five years later she faces her ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood, a vigilante and kingpin without Thorn's ethical code, takes Vale by storm. As the two clash truths are revealed and old wounds reopened
1. Intro

General Ironwood stood at the edge of his office, in his hidden base, starring out a window at the waterfall below. A look of pain and regret drawn on his face.

'I should never have allied myself with a madman,' He thought to himself.

"Where are they?" He asked the man standing behind him.

"Kuroyuri, a small village in Anima, run down by Grimm years ago. And…he has the girl."

* * *

In the deserted village of Kuroyuri, the painful screams of a girl being tortured echoed through the air. Inside one of the old destroyed homes, lying on the ground, tied up, laid Ruby Rose. Her face was covered in her own blood, one eye forced shut from a fractured eye socket.

"Wow, that looked like it really hurt," Spoke Roman Torchwick, standing above her, a huge, joyful, sickeningly smile on his face. Ruby spat out a mouthful of blood and began squirming, desperately trying to break free of the ropes tying her together. However, Torchwick slammed his cane into her stomach.

"Whoa, now, hang on. That looked like it hurt a lot more than the last one. So, let's try and clear this up, okay, pumpkin? What hurts more? A?" Roman slammed his cane straight down into Ruby's chest. "Or B?" He asked as he swung the cane across her face, breaking her nose. "Forehand? or backhand?" He asked as her as he continued to beat her.

Ruby began to heave and gurgle as she desperately tried to talk.

"A little louder, lamb chop," Roman instructed as he knelt down beside her. "I think you may have a collapsed lung. That always impedes the oratory." Ruby hurled a mouthful of blood onto the criminals face. "Now, that was just rude," Roman exclaimed as he wiped away the blood. "Looks like I'll have to teach you some manners." He placed his cane on Ruby's shattered nose and ever so slowly began to amply more and more pressure.

Ruby screamed out in pain as her torture continued.

* * *

"Where is the sister?" Ironwood asked.

"She's on her way. But, sir, she won't make it there in time."

* * *

Yang Xiao-long raced through the forest on her motor-cycle, speeding towards Kuroyuri.

"Well Red, I gotta go," Roman announced as he began heading to the door. "It's been fun though, right? Well, maybe a smidge more fun for me than you. I'm just guessing since you're being awful quiet. Anyway, be a good girl. Finish your homework and be in bed by nine. And, hey." A wicked smile came to his face that stretched from ear to ear. "Please tell big sis I said, hello." Roman began laughing manically as he shut the door leaving Ruby all alone.

Ruby slowly opened her least damaged eye and looked around the room from where she lay. Her aura was depleted, her body beaten, her will broken and her soul crushed.

'Escape,' She thought to herself as she painfully got onto her knees and began to painstakingly crawl her way to the door, a stream of blood trailing behind her. Eventually she reached the door and just when she thought she was getting out of that dreadful place she found the door was locked and unmoveable. With no chance of escape, she was about to let go of her grasp of life when she heard the sound of a bike in the distance.

'It's okay. Yang will be here soon. Soon.' Ruby thought to herself as the sound grew louder. Ruby turned around and leaned against the door, desperately trying to stay conscious. That's when she saw it. On the other side of the room was a bomb, the timer read ten seconds and was counting down. Fear clutched her heart as she now knew her fate was sealed.

Yang roared into the run down village just in time to see a house blow up right in front of her.

"NO!" She screamed as she launched herself off the bike and into the air. She came crashing down in the rubble, blasting away the debris with her gauntlets. Finally, she found her. And with tears streaking down her face and a feeling of failure overwhelming her, she picked up the beaten, bashed, burnt and mangled corpse of Ruby Rose.

 **Author's Note:**

And so the story begins. This will follow the animated movie of under the red hood pretty closely but with a RWBY twist to it. Obviously Yang will take the Batman role and although Blake would usually suit that role better for the sake of this story I decided to make it Yang. Later in the story there will be flash backs showing how everyone dealt with the loss of Ruby. And unlike my other stories I have already written and completed this story so chapters should be coming out fairly regularly. However, that doesn't mean I'm not open to suggestions and am more than happy to make changes to the story.


	2. Chapter 1

**Five years later.**

On the shady side of Vale, in an old, run down warehouse, a group of the cities biggest drug lords sat around a large circular wooden table.

"The hell you say!" One man shouted raising his hands in the air. "You didn't set this up? Then whose party is this?"

"I thought it was you east-side losers." Another large man replied. "You already rolled over for Junior and I figured you were gonna ask us in.

"Rolled over. Junior whacked six of my crew in a month. Six! Some of my best people."

"So, you set up this meet?" The large man accused a middle aged Asian woman.

"No, I thought it was yours," She replied calmly. The group continued to argue until the first man that had spoken decided he'd had enough.

"Oh, the hell with this. I'm gone. You brain donors wanna hang around be my guest."

"Sit down, Freddie," A female voice from a nearby ledge ordered. The group looked up to make out the outline of a person hidden in the shadows. "It's my meeting."

"It's her. Thorn."

"We didn't do nothing," Freddie claimed.

"Well, we all know that's a lie." She laughed as she stepped into the light revealing her appearance. The woman wore black combat pants, gloves and boots. Attached to each thigh were holsters carrying handguns. She wore a grey and black leather jacket and underneath was an armoured grey shirt. Finally, she wore a red helmet, hiding her face. She looked over the group, a machine gun in hand.

"Who the hell are you?" They demanded.

"Doesn't matter. Smoke her!" Another shouted. However, before they could, she began opening fire at the table they sat around, forcing them to dive to the ground for cover.

"I said, sit down!"

"You wanna die?" Freddie cried as he picked himself up. "There's easier ways to kill yourself."

"Yeah, like yelling at the lady who's holding the AK-47. Listen to me, you drug-peddling scumbags. I will be running the drug trade from now on. You eight are the most prosperous street dealers in Vale. I'm offering you morons a deal. You go about your business as usual, but kick up forty percent to me. That's a much sweeter deal than the scraps Junior is leaving you. In return, you will have total protection from both Junior and Thorn. But, you stay away from kids and school yards. No dealing to children, got it? If you do, you're dead."

"Okay, crazy lady, this is all very generous. But why in the hell should we listen to you?"

The lady tossed a bag onto the table in front of them. They all step backed in disgust, some even vomiting as they took a look at what was inside.

"Those are the heads of all of your lieutenants. That took me two hours. You wanna see what I can get done in a whole evening?

"Who are you?" The Asian lady asked.

"I am the Red Hood. Make no mistake. I'm not asking you to kick in with me. I'm telling you." Once again, she began firing at the table forcing them to duck for cover a second time. When the firing stopped and they looked up, the Red Hood was gone.

* * *

 **VALE DOCKS**

Tires screeched as two men drove down the docks in a large truck.

"Go, go, go!" The passenger shouted to the driver as they continued to pick up speed. "Where's Raymond and Denny?" The driver asked.

"She got them. Just grabbed them up. Forget about them and just go, get us out of here."

When they continued driving and nothing stopped them they began to believe they'd gotten away.

"I think I lost her. You think I lost her?"

"I think you lost her. I think we're good." Suddenly, a woman in a grey body suit landed on the hood of the truck, her long black hair flapping wildly in the wind. She wore armoured gauntlets and boots, and a utility belt around her waist that was black with yellow lining. In the middle of her chest was the image of a circle of green thorns and in the centre a small red rose. Covering her face, was a black metal domino mask, making her eyes appear white.

"No, you're anything but good," She threatened before punching the windscreen shattering it to pieces and sending tiny shards of glass into the two criminals. The passenger pulled out a gun and began to fire just as Thorn leapt into the air. They were so distracted with the vigilante that neither noticed the road spikes laid out in front of them until it was too late.

Their tires burst and they were sent crashing into a shipping container. The driver looked over at his friend who was stuck in his seat. Suddenly, a pair of hands smashed through the window and dragged him out of the truck. She handcuffed him to the font of the truck and did the same for the passenger.

"Who are you working for?" Thorn demanded, punching her across the face.

"Nobody. Look, we just boosted the truck and ahh!" He screamed as Thorn broke three of his fingers.

"Lie to me again and crashing into a wall head-on will be the least painful activity of your evening," She threatened.

"No, I swear to." A sudden roar from the back of the truck interrupted him.

"What the hell is that?" The driver cried.

"Your cargo. It's called a Beringel."

The back of the truck flew off and a large gorilla like Grimm leapt out of the back. The beast spun around to face them and with a monstrous roar slammed its fists into the ground sending a shock wave towards them. Thorn jumped into the air and landed on top of the truck. She grabbed a metal ball from her belt and threw it at the Grimm who caught it in its giant hands. As the beast caught the ball it blew up surrounding him in a cloud of smoke. Thorn ran through the smoke and leapt up to the Beringel punching it across the face. She jumped onto its back and as she leapt off the Grimm grabbed her leg and threw her into a shipping container.

"Packs quite the punch for a monkey on steroids, huh?" A voice from above spoke. Thorn glanced up to see a man in a black body suit with a yellow V across the chest spanning from shoulder to shoulder. Over his forearms were large yellow wrist guards and across his waist was a yellow utility belt. He had blonde hair and over his face was a black domino mask similar to Thorns.

"Need a hand?" He offered.

"No," Thorn replied as she leapt into battle.

"Okay, well, how about I just stick around and watch?" He joked as he jumped off the shipping container and followed Thorn.

"Who's that other one? The pretty boy in the leotard?" The driver asked the passenger.

"That's Knightwing. He used to be partners with Thorn."

The Beringel grabbed a nearby shipping container and lifted it up over his head. With an animalistic roar, he chucked it at the two vigilantes. Thorn ducked under the crate and continued to run towards the beast while Knightwing jumped over it.

Knightwing reached into his utility belt and pulled out a set of iron knuckles. He ran up to the beast and hooked him across the face. The beast spun around just in time to see Thorn's knee collide with his chin. As the beast got up both Knightwing and Thorn raced at him on grappling hooks and punched him simultaneously across the face. The heroes landed on top of a shipping container and Thorn threw a throwing disk at the Grimm. As the disk lodged into the beast it exploded, giving them a chance to run.

"Will that do any good?" Knightwing asked.

"It'll slow it down."

"You think so?" He asked as he looked behind them to see the beast jump into the air and begin to chase them.

"Get to higher ground," Thorn ordered as she fired a grappling hook.

As Knightwing grappled away the Beringel grabbed him out of the air and began to crush him. He grabbed a pair of knives from his belt and slammed them into its head, sending an electric current through its body.

The beast dropped Knightwing and he leapt to safety as Thorn jumped over him and placed two balls of explosives over his eyes. As she reached cover she hit the detonator, blowing the beasts head off.

"Nice work," Knightwing complimented her. When he looked to face her Thorn was already walking back towards the goons.

* * *

Thorn stood in front of the tied-up thugs, Knightwing standing behind her, crane controls in hand.

"This shipment was meant for Junior. I doubt you're behind this. Who do you work for?" She demanded.

"I swear, we're not working for anybody. This was our gig, all our idea…"

"Let it go," Thorn ordered.

"Right," Knightwing replied as he pushed a button on the controls. The crooks cried in fear as a damaged shipping crate fell towards them.

"We'll talk, we'll talk. Just stop. Just stop!" They cried. Knightwing stopped the crane, moments before it hit them. "The Red Hood. We're working for the Red Hood. We don't have any choice. He's got-" The man slumped down as a bullet went through his head. A second shot whizzed by killing the remaining thug.

"Sniper," Thorn shouted as the heroes raced for cover.

"A good one. The shots came from the rooftop," Knightwing noted as he cautiously peered out from cover. "See him?"

"Yeah," Yang answered as she looked through a pair of military binoculars across the city, seeing a person in a red helmet. She pressed a button on her belt and a moment later her black motorcycle sped around the corner coming to a stop in front of her. Wordlessly she jumped on and sped off.

"Wait!" Knightwing shouted but was too late. "Great, leave me here with them," He complained looking at the dead thugs.

Thorn reached the rooftop where the sniper had been but by the time she got there the sniper was long gone. After a search of the area, Yang wasn't able to find any trace to follow. In fact, there was no evidence anyone was ever here. With nothing to go on, she jumped back on her bike and sped off.

* * *

Thorn raced into Mountain Glenn, the former expansion of Vale that was overrun and destroyed by the creatures of Grimm. As she reached a rundown building the wall slid to the side revealing a secret entrance. She drove through the building and down a ramp leading to an underground base.

The base was a cave with high-tech equipment all around. Including a giant computer, a vehicle bay and weapons rack. Most significantly was the glass cabinet to the side displaying Ruby's torn red hood and weapon, Crescent Rose.

"Glad to see you could join us," Jaune Arc joked, sitting at the computer. He'd stayed in his suit but had removed his mask.

"I didn't need your help," Yang replied.

"Thank you Juane. Why you're welcome Yang."

Yang removed her mask and walked over to a bench. She pressed a button on her belt and her hair turned from black back to her usual blond. Finally, she took off her gauntlets and belt laying them out next to her mask.

"This bit of intel is what brought me to town," Jaune explained as he plugged a usb into the computer. "Good thing I've always had perfect timing. Take a look. I got this shot from a snitch." On the screen a picture of the Red Hood appeared.

"He says that this lady's been making some serious moves. Goes by the name Red Hood."

"So I've heard," Yang replied as she walked over to him. "Several criminals have utilized this persona."

"One criminal of particular interest, though. But he's locked up. Not his m.o. either. There's been an uptick in heavy trafficking, but crime is down."

"Maybe we should go for a visit," He suggested, still watching the computer screen. The sound of a motorcycle starting caught his attention. He spun around to Yang geared up and preparing to leave. "Could you just once say, let's go? Is that so hard?" He cried as he put on his mask and jumped onto his own bike.

 **Author's Note:** Incase anyone's wondering the way Knightwing is spelt is intentional.


	3. Chapter 2

In the depths of Arkham Asylum, in the most secure cell in the prison, Roman Torchwick sat laughing manically as the two vigilantes stood over him.

"You look good. Been working out?" He asked jokingly. "You could probably use a little sun. Then again, who am I to talk?" He began cackling, shaking madly in his seat. Thorn pulled out a scroll and showed him the picture Jaune had brought of the Red Hood.

"She's calling herself the Red Hood. What do you know about it?"

"That she has horrible taste. That was my first identity when I began breaking into the world of crime. Though when I did it, it was classy, more sophisticated than this motorcycle fetish. Oh, these kids today."

"If you're behind this in any way, we will find out," Knightwing threatened.

"Kid, do you honestly believe I would stir up so much trouble and not make sure you knew it was me?" He asked, followed by more mad cackling. Thorn and Knightwing shared a look before walking out leaving the mad man to himself.

Two men in suits stood in an elevator heading up to the top floor.

"I know you've never met him before, but be cool. This here is Junior. The first boss to gain control of the entire city in twenty years." The older man explained. "Whatever he wants in Vale, he gets."

The elevator doors opened and the men walked out. They followed the hall until they reached are large set of doors.

"She did what? What?" Boomed a voice threateningly from the other side.

"Oh, good, he's pissed." The older man opened the door and lead them inside.

They entered the large office to discover Junior standing behind a desk, his female assistant to the side and two other men in front of the desk.

"Our concern is the one who ordered the theft of the Beringel. She goes by the name of Red Hood," The assistant explained to Junior.

"I don't care what she's calling herself!" Junior shouted furiously. "Do you idiots know how many bidders I had on that Beringel? A list of puppet dictators and psychos as long as my arm. Hundreds of thousands shot right to hell. And whose money is that Stacy?"

"Your money," Stacy, the assistant replied flatly.

"My money! Mine! This score was a game changer. The Beringel was going to be my way up into high-end international trafficking. Now I'm forced to keep rooting around in this local leg-breaking garbage. And then she gives me Thorn troubles, who blows the damn Grimm's head off! Look, this circus act, this Red Foot."

"Red Hood," Stacy corrected him.

"Whatever. She's dead. Take care of her." He ordered.

Finally, he noticed the new arrivals, particularly the new member.

"You, new guy."

"Sir."

"Don't be nervous, kid. But if you keep staring at me like that, I'm gonna cut your eyes out," He threatened, no hint of humour in his voice. "Give me the specs on tonight's shipment." "Yes, sir. It's ten cases of assorted SMGs and grenades, along with 5000 .45 calibre dust rounds, your personal favourite, two cases of RPGs. It's all bought and paid for, so this is strictly a delivery, not a buy. In view of recent events, I've taken the liberty of doubling security and switching the drop spot."

What none of them were aware of were the two recording devices hidden in the room. One belonging to Yang, the other belonging to the Red Hood, both listening in on the conversation.

Later that night a helicopter dropped down, landing on top of a building in the outskirts of Vale. Waiting on the side lines were a group of men in grey hoods. The pilot waited for them to begin unloading the weapons as soon as he landed but only one of them moved towards him. The hooded figure opened the chopper door and walked in.

"What are you guys waiting around for? Protocol says I'm only supposed to be on the ground for six minutes." The person pulled away their hood to reveal the red helmet of the Red Hood underneath.

"That's okay. I won't be staying that long," She replied before pulling out a gun and shooting the pilot.

Red Hood pulled the pilots corpse out of his seat and climbed in. She grabbed the joystick and began to take off. However, she only got a few meters into the air when a giant grappling hook shot into the side of the helicopter sending an electrical current into the chopper and shutting it down.

"And I almost thought she wouldn't show."

On the other side of the roof Thorn and Knightwing stood, holding a bazooka sized grappling hook, securing the end of the grapple into the ground.

"You wanna dance? Let's dance." Red Hood turned the joy stick and sent the chopper off the side of the building and hurtling towards the ground.

"Is that gonna hold?" Knightwing asked worriedly.

"No!" Thorn shouted as she grabbed the bazooka out of Knightwing's hands and ran after the chopper and without hesitation leapt off the side of the building.

"So, you want me to… should I? Okay, I'll just take care of this." Jaune hurriedly began securing the rope attached to the helicopter to the ground.

As the chopper fell, Red Hood jumped out onto the roof of a building. Thorn shot a second grapple from the bazooka into the helicopter and fired a third from her hand held grappling gun. She attached the hand-held gun to the bazooka and prayed it would hold. Civilians below began jumping out of their cars and running to safety. Just meters from landing on the cars below the wires went taught and the helicopter stopped its fall.

Knightwing swung down on a grappling hook grabbing Yang out of the air and swung them both onto the building the Red Hood stood on.

"Okay then. Nice night for a run," Hood commented before beginning to sprint across the roof. She leapt off the edge and landed in a building still under construction. The two heroes followed her closely but she always managed to stay ahead, despite their best efforts to catch her. As she ran past Red Hood grabbed a flammable tank of dust and leapt out of a window. As she fell she threw the tank back towards the window and shot at it. Thorn and Knightwing reached the window just as Red Hood shot the tank, creating a huge explosion, sending them crashing into the walls behind them and taking out a chunk of their auras. However, they immediately got back up, determined to catch the Hood. They jumped from roof top to roof top, the explosion giving Red Hood enough time to build up the gap between her and the heroes.

She rounded a corner and jumped onto the next building below. As Thorn ran around the corner Hood began firing her handguns at them forcing both heroes to stay around on the other side of the building.

"She's good," Knightwing admitted.

"Yes, she's putting on quite a show." Thorn pressed a button on the side of her belt activating a video camera in her mask. Once the firing stopped they continued to chase after her. As she jumped off a roof Thorn threw a grappling hook at her wrapping it around her leg. However, before it went taught, Red Hood cut the line with a knife and smashed through the glass ceiling of a train station.

"She's very good."

"Nothing we haven't seen before."

"If you say so."

The two heroes followed Red Hood and landed in the train station below.

"Think we lost him?" Jaune asked as they looked around, no one in sight.

Loud beeping caught their attention and they discovered a bomb with five seconds on the countdown.

"Move!" Thorn shouted. However, they weren't fast enough and the explosion sent them flying across the station, depleting both their auras. Jaune grabbed his leg in pain and when he looked down he immediately knew it was broken. A motorcycles engine began to rev and when the they looked up they discovered the Red Hood on a motorcycle waving at the them.

"You haven't lost your touch!" She called out just as a train drove in between them. Once the train had passed Red Hood was long gone.


End file.
